Setting Up an Outside Webcam
Hasley Hills - Castaic Mac Cam - Technical Information
By Jon Curwen - ImageCaster User
Return to Econ ImageCaster site
 "You can do it, I can help!" - with apologies to a major supply store where I purchased some of the routine stuff for this project. The goal here is to save you some time (and money) avoiding "dead ends." My contact info is at bottom of this page if you have questions, etc. We'll start at the end. At the left (picture 1) is the final webcam installation including painting to comply with our homeowners' association. You may need a stepladder and a piece of cardboard to "frame" (as a movie director might) your intended view from a workable location in space. If you're lucky, you just attach your cam housing to an existing surface. Get a sense of the angle of coverage afforded by your camera before you do this. High school geometry and its study of triangles may be finally useful to you here. My intended view just happened to occur from a workable location four feet from the edge of our house and about eight feet in the air - a patio cover blocked my best view. This allowed me to encompass the elements I desired. A view of our patio with Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in the background and a bit of sky to capture firework bursts as well as to show the ridgeline of our surrounding mountains. Perhaps a bit ambitious for a little web cam's resolution but a recent crisp, clear day confirmed that my daytime goal is well met. I did one final hand held test with the cam dangling from a series of powered firewire extension cables running to the Mac. This was also a component test and everything worked just fine. What resulted is a "skyhook" approach - see picture 1, left - to mount the camera so as to make all of the above appear on screen.
Picture 1
Additionally, our south facing southern California patio microclimate area gets very hot mid summer - approaching 120 degrees F. This dictates some heat management actions which include shade and passive ventilation measures in addition to general weather-proofing (See picture 2, right). The metal security camera weatherproof housing is from Cyberguys. I made the additional shade/heat sink roof which was initially attached atop the housing using Industrial Velcro. Velcro made things easier as I tweaked the design and the position of the roof to shield the camera housing. Marine application Goop was then used to reinforce the Velcro connection. The camera housing bracket, below the housing in picture 2, may be optional, but is strongly suggested as it allows mounting of the unit to any surface.
Picture 2
Here's an inside view (picture 3, left) of the weatherproof housing with the "Rube Goldberg" style shade and heat sink. My hand is on the housing portion with the wood and metal shade just above. Imagine the shade as an inverted boat. Its "keel" is of perforated angle iron - the sort that is used to mount garage door openers - and provides points of attachment for metal braces, wood blocks and two garage vent plates. A two foot by two foot folded sheet of aluminum (unfinished on top) is the final surface exposed to the elements. Bolt extensions help prevent bird nesting attempts as well as provide additional future attachment points. The iSight firewire cam is mounted to the housing "track sled" using its included magnetic mount option. I glued a large steel washer to the sled. A small steel shim, later, made the camera plumb. The iSight mounting then allows for back and forward motion as well as the lattiude of motion inherent in the iSight cam design. The ImageCaster software allows for focus and image enhancement remotely using the Mac.
Picture 3
The iSight includes a svelte and detachable firewire cable (visible in picture 3) of six feet which trails behind the iSight and exits the 1/2 inch hole on the bottom of the camera housing visible in picture 2. Using the UV resistant PVC conduit for the project, I found that I had to immediately transition to 3/4 inch diameter conduit so that the iSight's cable connector could snake through the first 90 degree bend and be fished through to the first access box which is visible, bottom right, of picture 2. A Dremel tool (or rat tail file) was used to enlarge, slightly, a restricted part of the passageway in the 1/2 to 3/4 transition fitting. It is within the first access box that I connected the first of three powered firewire extension cables which, end to end, connected the Mac to the iSight. The effective distance that one can reliably employ active extension cables, per SewellDirect, is about 60 ft. Of note, I did see information where more length was used successfully as I researched this project.
Picture 4, right, shows two powered firewire extension cables meeting. There is some bulk to be accommodated and the 3/4 inch size conduit works well. This site is the house entry point. As you work with the lengths of PVC, you cut them to fit the lengths of your cables. Time for a connection? Cut the pipe, put on an access box and make the connection and pull the rest of the cable towards the Mac. Although one may choose to use "sweeps" of conduit at turns, I chose a series of these access boxes as picture 1 depicts.
Picture 4
The series of access boxes and conduit lead to the penetration of the house wall. Use a stud finder inside to find a clear path to the outside. Note any outside objects or pipes and wires before you drill. I had to avoid my air conditioner compressor area as I could not get my tools behind it easily. Other elements of the AC system were located well away from my penetration point, also, as one can see in picture 1. To avoid water entering my house, I drilled the penetration path downward, slightly, inside to outside. Run a short length of conduit, then, through the wall, box to box. This makes an easy cable pass through into the house. Caulking is recommended! The access box inside, then, is configured to direct the cable appropriately toward my Mac. These access boxes (or J-boxes) come in several configurations and you'll want to purchase them carefully according to your directional needs. Their screw-on weatherproof plates make connections and pulls very easy. I found that having a photo of the installation site helped me while buying my supplies. Also, take your weatherproof camera housing in and start from its exit point and mentally build your path into the house. The options available in the hardware or electrical supply section are numerous and may be confusing. Get a small can of PVC solvent. Best to keep the solvent off the cables themselves while connecting conduit. Sprinkler pipe cutters work great with PVC conduit.
At the left in picture 5 is the iBook SE 466 G3 with a firewire port driving the iSight. iSight requires a firewire port! Mac is OS X 10.3.7 with 576 MB RAM running ImageCaster by Econ Technologies. One side of my ethernet router serves this end of the house. The iBook, via an ethernet switch, shares that line. Easy plug and play with a Mac, of course. The iBook runs day and night (always on) sending images to my .mac site at the rate of one per minute. The screen is only on briefly when I need to adjust something and then goes dark. The firewire cable which entered the house in picture 4 can be seen on the wall directly to the left of the printer after traversing part of the room above the framed mirror.
Picture 5
As noted in the second paragraph, summer heat is an issue in our area. I already had a Radio Shack indoor/outdoor remote thermometer which accepts an additional outdoor sensor. I placed the additional sensor into the camera housing as you can see in picture 2, bottom left. The shade is effective in keeping temperatures under control (no heat build up) and essentially equal to outside temps.
Special Parts List & Sources
iSight firewire camera - Apple Computer
Weatherproof Security Camera Housing - Cyberguys
ImageCaster software - Econ Technologies, Inc.
Powered Firewire Extension Cables - SewellDirect
Indoor/Outdoor Remote Thermometer -Radio Shack

These links and products may change over time as vendors change inventory. Home Depot, Lowes, etc. carry the routine items mentioned above.